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Saturday, May 23, 2015

It was a hard choice to make, deciding to go with Hourglass Baby Quilt pattern done with Sujata Shah's versions of craziness in piecing. I've used her book, Cultural Fusion Quilts- A Melting Pot of Traditions. I totally recommend it if you are looking for a way to make your own original looking quilt.

This book is to provide quilters with reasonable guidelines for those wanting to explore playing with fabric.

This baby quilt is by far the most interesting version of a baby quilt in my opinion. I'm always seeking something inspiring in a pattern. I see lots of new versions of blocks from this book which anyone can play with and it will not look just like Sujata's, it will be your own.

I chose to use lightweight denim with 100% cotton prints from Dr. Suess collection from Robert Koffman

I love the free spirited way these blocks go together and hoping that my family will like its modern way.

This little quilt was hand quilted with #5 Perle Cotton thread in white. I outlined each denim and navy cotton fabric and quilted one single line of stitches around the border.

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Rusty has that look on her face, she is telling me she wants to come along too!

So I gave in and she came along.

Its very small and if you blink you'd miss it. But quaint homes and laughing people at the local gas station greet a newcomer to Fort Fraser, B.C. The parking lot beside the hall was pretty full and I had my favorite companion along with me. She required shade and open windows. So I managed to "Go 4x4ing" with my Toyota Corolla! I eased my car in underneath a tall shady tree at the farthest part of the parking lot. My car was lopsided and looked like I was trying to climb the tree, but Rusty didn't care!

This fly hook is only one of dozens that decorate the border of this following quilt done by Debbie Petteplace. Its simply stunning This photo doesn't do this quilt justice.

When I saw this fish quilt I immediately fell in love with this one made by Debby Petteplace which she made for her son.

I just loved the temperature in the hall, it was cool on such a hot day on May 13th!! That's slightly unusual in our northern hemisphere.

I had missed this spectacular full size quilt of total hand embroidery, wow, I had to take a close up and forgot to take a full shot, so I apologize to Debby Petteplace in advance. Her hand work is gorgeous!

I was so struck by the venue of carefully hung quilts, all beautiful that I forgot to buy some tickets for the door prize. Eager helper's at the entry table greeted me with enthusiasm and cheer.

I checked my tickets, none of mine had a red star on it, which indicated a winner of You Pick selection of gifts carefully prepared.
Its really impressive to see the quality of work in organizing and quilt layout as well as the beauty of the quilting in Fort Fraser and just above everyone has grey hair.

Sybille Broten made and hand quilted this lovely old timer Clam Shell. Such careful and tight stitching of hand quilting.

This guild makes and donated hundreds of hand made quilts to the Prince George Regional Hospital I was told and this is a mere sample of that in the photo below.

This stripe fabric centerpiece made from triangles is quite Christmasy and calls to the spirit of winter time and is done again by Debby Petteplace. Who must be very proud of her entrants into this show.

So that was my little quilt show and I hope you liked it.

And this is my progress on one of my UFO's

This was the sunset last night, I barely got outside fast enough to catch the last bit of the sun setting behind Hudsons Bay Mountain in Smithers, B.C.

Saturday, May 16, 2015

I recently picked this book entitled "Quilts Among the Plain People" and I was refreshed by the way the Amish people seem to get along with each other.

Quilting and sewing skills are taught in the early ages, where girls learn how to sew beside their Mother. I've always been attracted to this idea because of my own lack of learning from my own Mother. Its a wonder I turned out at all. Little encouragement for others can be found in the heart of a person suffering a mental illness. My mother was ill for all her life.

That's the sad part and the part that all us kids didn't fall by the wayside says a lot for my sweet older sister.

T-shirt quilt making for me started in the 1990's when I became very focused on reusing as much as I could. I decided that our used t-shirts required alternative uses from becoming automotive rags.

This article from the 1980's told of making t-shirts into quilts. I was hooked. Unfortunately this well before any thought of photos came to me to document.

I found this article about how some quilters strove to break free of traditional use of color. Then seeing this recent new patterned of Sujata Shaw's "Toran" so interesting how fusion of cultures recycle themselves.

This is my next quilt from "Cultural Fusion Quilts- A Melting Pot of Piecing Traditions"

I'm off to do some work on a strip quilting project that stems from several months ago. Plus, when my back needs a good sit, I switch over to my ongoing scrappy Dresden's sewn by hand.

Most of the fabric's used in my recent Dresden Plates are retro from 1970's to the present time.

Here is a positive thought for today.

"What lies behind us, and what lies before us are tiny matters, compared to what lies withing us."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Happy Quilting everyone, I'm having a blast and hoping your long weekend is awesome!

Saturday, May 9, 2015

I just love it when I get a special commission for a Mom. My client wanted a small lap quilt for her Mom for Mother's Day. The photo transfer via email were sent to me and then onto my special professional that makes photo transfers perfect that last a very long time.

I started with bordering each 11 x 8.5 inch Parent photo transfer with gold.

Then I bordered each of the children and grandchildren in red and set it all into a grey background.

I was playing around before the client picked it up and this is taken inside our RV.

I had some restrictions to color red, grey and blue, I added the gold and it was a good choice because the upper top area required something more fancy than the FAMILY name which was done in Gold.

I included the variation of square in a square to making it flashy, just a bit.